Welcome all!

Today, FEMS EUROMAT 2021 started successfully with opening and awards ceremonies.

FEMS president Eric Le Bouhris opened the conference and introduced FEMS to the participants. In the following the two conference chairs, Paloma Fernández Sánchez and myself welcomed the conference attendees and thanked the scientific and managing committees for their commitment to this event. Afterwards, Gerhard Hackl from the Austrian Society of Metallurgy and Materials on behalf of the organizing committee gave an overview and statistic of the conference program.

Jose Manuel Torralba from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid received the FEMS European Materials Gold Medal and gave the Plenary Talk “Something more than Powder." The FEMS Materials Technology Prize was awarded to Idalina Gonçalves from Universidade de Aveiro who presented the Plenary “Agrifood byproducts-derived biomolecules in the (bio)plastics manufacturing.”

After the coffee break, symposia in different areas started with keynote and ordinary presentations. Most presenters kept on time so that the planned procedure was met. The presentations were followed by many participants and chat rooms were used frequently. Thanks to all symposia chairs for doing a great job!

Also, booths were contacted by the participants to receive information from the exhibitors.

All attendees are welcomed using the connection possibilities such as the Discussion Board and Meet & Mingle Rooms. Don’t miss today’s Poster Session in the Poster Hall at 5.40pm!

We are looking forward to this week of exciting contributions and intensive interaction!

Make sure you're following the FEMS Twitter page for regular updates at https://twitter.com/FEMS_EU

Christof Sommitsch, Conference Chair